[Moncton] Centre Avenir Centre | 26.65m |~6 Fl | Completed

[pierremoncton]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Might be time for the mods to step in.....

Care to make a formal complaint?

Nah. He can choose to write what he wants and I can choose to ignore him going forward.

[OUIR@random]

I have some doubts about where the money will come from for the Event Centre, but it needs to go downtown and we all want it there. After reading all these crazy posts and that website, I'm just speechless. Who is this person???

I must agree that a suburban centre would be cheaper in the beginning (initially); but in the long term it's a bad planning and financial decision, which will eventually be more expensive and unsustainable. Someone needs to read some Jane Jacobs literature.

[Unlearn Relearn]

Originally Posted by Lrdevlop

I totally agree with you MonctonRad. This is pure spamming and trolling. There's just no sense in all of that - so aggressive too.

If you had your radio dial set on a different station than someone else, would you feel that your radio was flawed? It helps to accept that there are different frequencies and if someone doesn’t get you or understand you or appreciate you it doesn’t mean that there is something wrong with them or with you it just means that there are different frequencies and that’s what makes the world go round.

[Unlearn Relearn]

Originally Posted by OUIR@random

I have some doubts about where the money will come from for the Event Centre, but it needs to go downtown and we all want it there. After reading all these crazy posts, I'm just speechless. Who is this person???

I must agree that a suburban centre would be cheaper in the beginning (initially); but in the long term it's a bad planning and financial decision, which will eventually be more expensive and unsustainable. Someone needs to read some Jane Jacobs literature.

Very simply there will not be 5 cents to finance a Huge Events Center which is located in a tiny little spot on Main Street. You can't put an elephant in a shoe box. Financial investors are thinking about ten years down the road, they'll want to make sure that whatever new sport or new event that didn't exist in 2013, has lots of space to be implemented ten years from now. In ten years they will still be paying on their original bank loan for another 15 years to come and with no space to expand if they make the wrong decision. The Lower Coverdale site is close and ideal, thank heaven it is still available at such a low rental fee.

[pierremoncton]

Originally Posted by OUIR@random

Who is this person???

Pierre Sauvé

Racino proposal (2005): http://hl-app1.harnesslink.com/www/Article.cgi?ID=24170

Events centre (2010): http://22864.vws.magma.ca/index.php?&article_id=4990

Moncton Marvel Estates: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Marve...72174956133063

Edit/disclaimer: Just saying that the racino proposal was in fact from the same Mr. Sauvé. No idea if he's actually the person who's posting here.

[Lrdevlop]

Originally Posted by OUIR@random

After reading all these crazy posts and that website, I'm just speechless.

Speechless is the word I was looking for. So true.

[OUIR@random]

Maybe I should not say this because it will only add more fuel to the fire, but what worries me about this topic or proposal as insane as it might be is that... a few or one politician on the municipal, provincial or federal level might hear or see this ''idea'' and run with it and then convince others... It has happened way too many times before in this province or anywhere. After all, they are building a new school in the country, in the forest or in the middle of nowhere if you want to call it that, considering that this school is supposed to be a city centre school. Just plain ridiculous!!!

[MonctonRad]

Ignoring the last couple of pages of frivilous posts....

Moncton in line for federal funding?
Wednesday, April 03, 2013
Times & Transcript
By: Alan Cochrane

Metro Moncton could qualify for a share of $14 billion worth of infrastructure spending laid out in the most recent federal budget, member of Parliament Robert Goguen says, and the onus is on municipal politicians to set out their priorities so he can get to work on it.

'People will be fighting for this money all across the country and our communities will have to compete for it. Everyone will be tugging on the blanket and everybody will want a piece of the pie,' Goguen said in an interview with the Times & Transcript on Tuesday.

'There's only so much money in the pot, what do you want me to swing for?' He said there are several infrastructure spending projects included in the most recent federal budget, and suggested that upgrades to Metro Moncton's wastewater treatment plant and a downtown events centre should be priorities.

read more:
http://22864.vws.magma.ca/index.php?&article_id=10837

Minister Goguen is basically stating that there are pots of federal money available that could be used to finance a downtown events centre. Moncton just has to make a good case for this as there are many other municipalities across the country also looking for federal infrastructure funding. The fact that the construction timeline coincides with the next expected federal election is a good thing.....

[habs33]

City of Moncton twitter account (https://twitter.com/CityofMoncton) just posted this

City Manager, Jacques Dubé, will present an update on the proposed Downtown Centre to #Moncton City Council on Monday, April 15.

[Taeolas]

Well that should make for an interesting weekend of speculation.

[MonctonRad]

What will be interesting will be to see what sort of a spectacle Coun. Bourgeois makes of himself at the presentation. He has been a bit of a loose cannon recently.....

[RyeJay]

Originally Posted by Taeolas

Well that should make for an interesting weekend of speculation.

Allow me to speculate:

- A new site will be proposed for the events centre.
- The announcement will stress that funding isn't available at the federal or provincial levels.

[P Unit]

The announcement is obviously that they're moving the proposal to Lower Coverdale. Anything else would be an unmitigated tragedy.

[RyeJay]

Originally Posted by P Unit

The announcement is obviously that they're moving the proposal to Lower Coverdale. Anything else would be an unmitigated tragedy.

Nope. There's another option.

[Monctoncore]

Originally Posted by RyeJay

Nope. There's another option.

By any chance do you know the other option? Hopefully its not away from Downtown...

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Monctoncore

By any chance do you know the other option? Hopefully its not away from Downtown...

There were other options, next to the new law courts on Assomption Blvd and on East Main St, but I can't imagine the city giving up the option on Highfield Square.

I doubt that the update on Monday will give us any substantive new information. The main thing on the horizon is the fact that the option to purchase on Highfield Square runs out very soon. Expect some action on this in the very near future.....

[RyeJay]

Originally Posted by Monctoncore

By any chance do you know the other option? Hopefully its not away from Downtown...

Given the Federal Budget of 2013 that reduces infrastructure spending, given the Province of New Brunswick having deficit problems, given Moncton's sewerage priorities (which will be one of the most expensive projects in this region's history), given Moncton's political objections to the rising costs of the events centre, and given the unknown costs of the Highfield cleanup that will be added to the already controversial costs of the events centre:

I would like to predict that the Highfield site will not be the site of the events centre, and there is a stronger likelihood for the parking space around Assomption to be the new site -- and that the events centre will be put off for the next two or three years.

The Highfield site, in order to prevent further downtown stagnation, will be sold to private developers (either directly from the current seller or from the city) for residential and commercial mixed-use projects, which may or may not be developed before the events centre.

[MonctonRad]

The presentation at city council last night was to announce that three companies had met the RFQ for the new events centre.

They are:
- Ellis Don (they built the Budweiser Garden in London and the Rogers Centre in Toronto)
- l'Arena des Canadiens/Evenko (they built the Molson Centre in Montreal)
- Bird Construction (they built the Ford Centre in Evansville, Indiana)

the site and timeline are unchanged. Assuming the city exercises their option on the Highfield Square site, the RFP will be issued in the fall, with construction likely commencing in 2015 with an opening date in 2017.

Also, there was a presentation regarding repurposing of the current coliseum. I don't have any particular information on this (yet), but apparently (assuming the new events centre gets built),they are looking at selling some of the current parking for higher density housing and mixed use development.

[NBNYer]

Is anyone here planning to attend the imagine symposium tomorrow night? If so, please report back here with any new info or details!

[MonctonRad]

this is the T&T article relating to the RFQ announcement today....
http://22864.vws.magma.ca/index.php?&article_id=10889

Potential events centre developers named
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Times & Transcript
By: Brent Mazerolle

Bird Construction, Ellis Don, and L'Aréna de Canadiens Inc./Evenko all interested in proposed Moncton project

More details will come at the next public meeting of Moncton city council on May 6, but we now know the names of the three proponents interested in building a multi-purpose events centre in Moncton's downtown.

They are L'Aréna de Canadiens Inc./Evenko, Bird Construction and Ellis Don, all of whom answered a request for qualifications the city issued in December.

Their names were made public as City of Moncton staff presented a lengthy review of the whole history and timeline of the proposed project, from the first events centre feasibility study done in 2009 to the important steps that will be taken in the next couple months, to the idea of being open for business in 2017 if the city council ultimately decides to go ahead.

The request for qualifications was the city's first step ahead of issuing a request for proposals. At this stage, the three proponents have merely demonstrated their interest and their capacity to take on such a large-scale project.

Because developers can spend significant amounts of money just responding to a request for proposals, the RFQ step gets them on the exclusive shortlist. Only those who meet the criteria of the RFQ get to bid on the RFP, giving proponents better odds of recouping their investments.

Ellis Don's partners are Global Spectrum, the architectural fir m BBB, Southwest Properties Ltd., and Dufferin Financial Services. Among their projects are London, Ontario's Budweiser Gardens, which will be the subject of a case study presentation Wednesday morning at the Capitol Theatre, sponsored by Downtown Moncton Centre-Ville Inc.

The Rogers Centre in Toronto and the Red Ball Internet Centre are also Ellis Don projects.

Bird Construction has partnered with Armco Capital, SMG, Populous, and Moncton architectural fir m Stantec. Among its projects are the Thunderbird Sports Centre built for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, the Trout Lake Arena in Vancouver, and the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana.

L'Aréna de Canadiens Inc./Evenko's projects include the Bell Centre in Montréal, the Bell Sports Complex in Brossard, Que., and the proposed Place Bell in Laval, Que.

Both London's Budweiser Gardens, formerly known as the John Labatt Centre, and the Ford Center in Evansville have been looked at by city staff and in previous Times & Transcript stories as potential models for Moncton to emulate because of similarities of scale.

Meanwhile, Global Spectrum markets, manages and operates large venues around the world, while Evenko is one of the world's top events promoters.

The public will hear more about the three proponents on May 6, the same night they will hear the City of Moncton's chief financial officer John Martin present a 30-year financial plan for the city.

The mayor said after last night's meeting the 30-year plan 'will make the case we can significantly address the city's infrastructure deficit and build an events centre.' Some of the liveliest discussion on council has been framed around an either/or debate about whether to spend on the city's infrastructure deficit or to spend on the proposed centre. If Martin can convincingly show it's possible to do both, that will have a significant impact on the decisions council will ultimately have to make.

In June, the results of an independent economic analysis should also be ready for public presentation and discussion. Also, the council must decide whether or not to buy the Highfield Square property. The city holds an option on the land which expires at the end of June.

If council votes to go ahead, they will likely issue a request for proposals in the fall, giving the three proponents six months to put their proposals together.

Allowing the city time to evaluate the proposals, and assuming one of them is deemed acceptable, construction could begin in 2015, with an opening date for the multi-purpose sports, entertainment, arts, culture and civic complex in 2017.

That of course assumes the city secures funding from other partners besides the successful proponent.